ASH WEDNESDAY AND THE THIRD EYE

On Ash Wednesday many of us will have ashes put on our forehead, on our “third eye,” if you will.  Why do we engage in this pagan-like behavior?  (Yes, this ceremony, like others practiced by many Christians, has pagan roots.)  Why do we present our foreheads for this “imposition of ashes?”

Of course, I can only speak for myself about my reasons.  Each individual participating in this ritual has his or her own take on it.  At one level of understanding, I present my forehead to be marked with ashes as a reminder that our embodiment is limited.  We come from dust and to dust we shall return.  Remembering that each moment of our our finite lives is precious and to be lived mindfully is a wonderful thing.  That’s enough of a reason right there to participate in this religious ritual! 

But wait!  There’s more!  That’s not the whole story – at least not the way I think about it.  At another level of understanding, marking the third eye represents the importance of opening up to a higher wisdom than what is typically experienced through the senses and reason.  Even though embodied, we can still catch glimpses of glory, glimpses of a larger and more beautiful realm than what our usual experience allows.  The cross – an intersection – is drawn on our 3rd eye chakra.  It’s a visceral and visual reminder of that mysterious area – that “thin place” – between life and death, between the secular and the sacred, between any two things that are seen as opposites.  This symbolic gesture can help us  realize that what may seem to be contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent, like in nature.  If we can think this way, we might see that opposites can only exist in relation to each other.  Yin and Yang.  This transcendence gives rise to new ways of seeing and being.

Many wisdom and mystical traditions recognize the importance of the third eye – including Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, and mystical Christianity.  For example, when I practice qigong meditation, my teacher has us spend some third eye training time, but without the ashes.  My understanding of the ashes comes from a widespread belief that fire is something that purifies and also regenerates, and since ashes are the residue of fire, they have the same properties.  Purification and regeneration are certainly major themes in Lent – more on that in a blog to come.

So, in summary, I invite the imposition of ashes in order to cherish embodiment, and to remember the importance of transcending dualities. Franciscan friar, Richard Rohr tells us that this transcendence”…happens whenever, by some wondrous “coincidence,” our heart space, our mind space, and our body awareness are all simultaneously open and nonresistant. I like to call it presence. It is experienced as a moment of deep inner connection, and it always pulls you, intensely satisfied, into the naked and undefended now, which can involve both profound joy and profound sadness at the very same time.”